IFAD

Enhance natural and economic resource base of poor rural women and men

Improved agricultural technologies and effective production services

Inclusive financial services

Technical and vocational skills development

Support to rural producers’ organizations

Policy dialogue and support for policy formulation

Enhance natural and economic resource base of poor rural women and men: IFAD promotes secure and equitable access to resources for poor rural women and men to make livelihoods more resilient to environmental changes, address resource degradation and adapt to growing resource scarcities. These strategic aspects are covered in the IFAD assisted Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Programme (SPPAP) and Gwadar-Lasbela Livelihood Support Programme in Balochistan’s coastal areas.

Improved agricultural technologies and effective production services: Through partnerships with stakeholders, IFAD develops and makes available appropriate technology for small agricultural producers to raise their productivity and make their production systems more sustainable and resilient. SPPAP provides technology transfer to farmers using the Farmer Field Schools approach and training of service providers. The Livestock and Market Access Programme improves service provision for production extension and animal health by the public and private sectors.

Inclusive financial services: Through low interest loans (0.75 percent service charge over 40 years with 10 year grace periods) and grants, IFAD works with the Government of Pakistan, other donor partners and poor rural communities to develop and finance programmes that enable the rural poor to overcome poverty. IFAD assisted Micro-finance Programmes develop approaches and products to increase rural outreach, offer a variety of products for small-scale agricultural producers and other poor rural residents for opportunities in agricultural and related markets and to increase sustainable micro-finance by facilitating provision of financing from commercial banks and capital markets.

Technical and vocational skills development: Technical and vocational skills development has long been a part of all activities funded by IFAD.

Support to rural producers’ organizations: All IFAD operations/projects follow participatory development approaches and support the empowerment of poor rural women and men. Projects promote effective and sustainable rural producers’ organizations, social mobilisation and inclusion to take advantage of opportunities in markets, improving capacity to deliver or facilitate the availability of needed services to their members, and improving the ability to take part in policy, institutional and programming processes that affect agriculture and rural economies.

Policy dialogue and support for policy formulation: IFAD engages with the Government, farmers’ organizations and other partners to develop comprehensive and coherent rural development policies for poverty reduction and food security. IFAD provides assistance to the federal and provincial Governments to put in place the relevant policy, legal and regulatory environment. It also works with rural producers’ organizations to ensure their participation in policy debate and institutional processes.

Mr. Qaim Shah, IFAD Country Programme Officer

Mr. Qaim Shah, a Pakistani national, has consulted on numerous projects for UNOPS, IFAD, ADB, Narcotics Affairs Section, and the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan, Asia Foundation, and UNDP as well as the World Bank in Pakistan, Cambodia, Washington, DC, Myanmar, Viet Nam and Mongolia. He has published several articles on Afghan refugees, poverty alleviation, aid effectiveness and other development issues. In 1981 he was appointed National Field Officer at WFP in Peshawar. He joined the Barani Area Development Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as Director in 1992. In 1999, he joined the Human Development Initiative Support Project at UNOPS/UNDP Myanmar as Chief Technical Advisor/Agency Project Manager. In 2011 Mr. Shah was appointed IFAD Country Programme Officer for Pakistan.

Mr. Shah specialised in Agriculture and Rural Development at the Institute of Social Studies at The Hague, Netherlands, has a Master’s in Economics and a Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan.